self-care
Dinner Thoughts?
By Jean Miner, MD “Dinner thoughts?” This is the text I all too frequently send my husband while leaving the hospital after a full day of surgery or clinic. As a doctor, the virtues of exercising and eating healthy is something I routinely discuss with my patients. But, personally as a surgeon juggling a career, various committees and a family (with twin toddlers) it is much easier said than done. However, I have learned a few tricks to maintain a healthier diet. Is it perfect? No. Is it doable? Yes. First, I got tech savvy and educated myself. I took advantage of websites and apps that allowed me to search nutritional data for fresh and packaged foods and even restaurant dishes. I joined a recipe website and created a virtual recipe box which now has over 200 recipes catalogued and available at my fingertips. Not just are the recipes sorted...
To Look in the Mirror and Not See Further than My Neck
By: Natalie Tully January is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. As you may have read in an earlier blog post, thyroid cancer is the most prevalent cancer in young women under 25. This is the story of one of those young women. It was June of 2011, and I had just come home to Pennsylvania for summer vacation after completing my sophomore year at the University of Texas (and finally passing organic chemistry). In an effort to get back in shape for our family beach vacation (and after six months of eating like a nineteen-year-old college student does), I went out for a bike ride. Naturally, I was drenched in sweat when I got home and decided to give my mom a sweaty hug-a move she wasn’t exactly keen on. As we play-fought, I turned my head to the side and instantaneously, she went from mom to nurse. She saw a...
A cancer of young women
By Minerva Romero Arenas The new year brings with it a time to reflect on the past, the present, and the future. Inspired by the writers the past few weeks, I also took the opportunity to reflect on what I have learned during my first few months in fellowship training in surgical endocrinology. What an appropriate time to share some reflections, considering January is thyroid cancer awareness month I chose to focus on my experience with thyroid cancer patients. I have seen a lot of young patients. Thyroid cancer is on the rise and is now the 8th most common cancer in the US, and the number 1 cancer amongst young women (under age 25). Radiation exposure is one of the most common risk factors, while having family history also plays a role in specific types of thyroid cancer. While symptoms may be attributable to mass effect (“compressive symptoms”), many...
Dressing Your Best, Inside Out
By: Natalie Tully Every year after the post-midnight New Year’s celebrations wind down, we each start the all-too familiar process of declaring resolutions for the coming twelve months. In that spirit, I hope to explore ideas (most old, but perhaps a few you haven’t heard) and encourage some of you to put on your best self in 2017- mind, body, and wardrobe. Dressing your best-literally Fair warning: most of my clothing is sportswear and I prefer the DMV and the Dentist to going clothes shopping. That said, this is something I struggle with but have found strategies that result in me feeling more confident in professional situations without excessive strain. Err on the Conservative-Yes, you’ve heard this ad nauseum, but no matter your career stage or if it’s an interview, clinic, or social event, you never want your clothing to distract from you. If you question your outfit’s appropriateness, either...
The Road to Wellness
By Jaime Lewis The road to wellness is often less than straight and narrow. Some stretches are full of potholes and construction barriers, causing delays, requiring tolls and taxes for passage, while other sections are smoothly paved, wide open, and headed straight into the sunset. However the journey proceeds I have found it is peppered with choices and opportunities to make myself a little happier, a bit healthier, and perhaps a little more “well”. Some moments it’s a choice of how to respond or react, how to understand my own emotions, or how to interpret the actions of another. Other days it’s making the choice to eat the healthier meal, to run the extra mile, to play with my children, or in my professional sphere- to finish up my charts, respond to a committee request, or spend a few extra moments with a resident. Recently I have worked to formulate...
Have You Thought About Your Ovaries Lately?
By Shree Agrawal This month, AWS is focusing on ovarian cancer awareness. But really, why does all of this matter? Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from a gynecologic malignancy, affecting thousands of women each year--most commonly, among women who are 60 years or older. Unsurprisingly, diagnosing ovarian cancer at an earlier stage strongly correlates with improved disease outcomes. While pap smears and breast examinations are screening tools commonly expected during a gynecologic exam, screening for ovarian cancer specifically is less obvious. A thorough workup should be initiated within the context of any symptoms of pelvic or abdominal pain, increased abdominal size or abdominal bloating, urinary urgency/frequency, and early satiety. In addition a thorough physical exam, some additional tests may include CA-125 levels and/or pelvic ultrasonography. Regardless, everyone’s experience with prevention, screening, and potential intervention is a personal decision. Some talking points to bring up with your physician:...
An Open Letter to Young Women Considering a Career in Surgery
This post originally appeared in Hot Heels, Cool Kicks, & a Scalpel Dear Young Woman Considering a Career in Surgery, It was lovely to meet you the other day. Many times a month, a young woman just like you comes to me with similar interests and concerns. “I really love surgery,” she says, ” But I am afraid of the lifestyle and I really want to have a family.” Oh, and thank you for also inviting me to speak at your seminar the other day on Women in Traditionally Male Dominated Fields. I have been speaking at similar panel sessions since 2005 when I was a bit of a novelty at my training program as a clinical PGY-4 with an infant daughter. Your collective curiosity on what my life must be like is of great interest to me because to me it’s just my life. It’s the only reality that...
Physician, Heal Thyself: Recognizing and Understanding Burnout
By Gabrielle Rieth This topic seems particular relevant and timely for me and my classmates, as we are currently in the happy limbo-land that our school dubs “Research Block.” It takes place following our second year of medical school, sitting for the USMLE Step 1 examination, and just prior to beginning our tenure as mini-docs in the arduous final two “clinical” years of our undergraduate medical education. On some level, I anticipated what I’d find when I began researching this topic. The concepts of self-care, emotional welfare, and professional burnout are hot-button issues in the medical world. In April, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy brought it to national attention in an interview at the annual meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists. The culture of medicine was documented on the well-known website, Humans of New York. A student at another medical school shared a candid commentary on her struggles with...
Guilt
By JS I recently completed a 1-year hospital based fellowship that is designed to provide faculty and staff with the expertise and skills needed to advance academic careers in medical education. While I originally applied for the fellowship in order to improve my teaching style, I was particularly drawn in by the wellness sessions. I learned about the high prevalence of physician burnout, which is 30-40% amongst American surgeons1 and the many signs to help recognize it in myself and in others. I also became more aware of the resources available to help someone who is dealing with burnout. As the only surgeon in the group, it quickly became obvious to me that many of the solutions to preventing burnout required time and rearranging one’s schedule, for example, to go to a yoga class or meet with a peer support person. Of course, the irony was not lost on the...
Thoughts on Being a Caregiver
By Hilary Sanfey Over the last few years I helped care for a very dear friend, a retired surgeon, who developed a progressive neurological illness shortly after turning sixty. It was challenging, not least because of the emotional investment and physical toll, but because I had to learn a whole new skill set. So many times as a surgeon in practice I had ordered meds (lots of meds- after all I was a transplant surgeon!). Some were taken with food, some on an empty stomach, some an hour after eating, some crushable, some not … Breathing treatments, physical therapy etc. without thinking of the time it takes to coordinate this regimen with the activities of daily living, not to mention how exhausting it was for the poor patient! Now I truly appreciate the little time I did spend observing the nursing staff at the bedside. What advice do I have...
